Wrexham overcome illness in camp to beat Portsmouth

Phil Parkinson says Wrexham overcame an illness in camp to earn a hard-fought 2-1 win against Portsmouth.

Goals from Sam Smith and Max Cleworth in the first half put the Red Dragons in firm control at Stok Cae Ras.

Zak Swanson’s deflected strike early on in the second half gave John Mousinho’s men hope in north Wales, although the Red Dragons held on for a crucial victory.

And after the match, Parkinson confirmed goal scorer Smith and top scorer Kieffer Moore had been struggling with illness coming into the game.

“The energy levels weren’t quite where they needed to be, we’ve had a bit of illness in the camp over the last few days,” he said.

“But we just dug deep as a team and we restricted them to very few chances.”

The Wrexham manager added: “A few of the lads had it and Sam at half time was feeling ill. Kieffer had already been ill over the last couple of days.

“Sometimes you get that and someone might bring it into the club from home and we’ll just clear the building in the next day or two and come back ready to go again.”

Victory ensured Wrexham remain sixth in the table – with Parkinson’s men opening up a four-point lead over seventh-placed Southampton.

And the manager was pleased his team were able to show a different side to their game as they survived a second half fightback from the visitors to clinch a valuable three points.

“I thought we were excellent first half. We really bossed the game,” added Parkinson.

“Second half, the deflected goal’s gone in and we didn’t quite get the control we wanted.

“But sometimes football is about finding a way to win and we’ve done that really well tonight.”